updated 10:55 am EST, Fri January 15, 2010

Marks debut of A-Pro series

Cakewalk has revealed several new products at NAMM, most notably the A-Pro series of MIDI keyboards. The collection is USB-based, and includes the A-300 Pro, A-500 Pro and A-800 Pro, which have 32, 49 and 61 keys, respectively. Each sports a number of secondary controls such as knobs, sliders and buttons.

The A-800 for instance has a pitch bend/modulation stick, and eight pads for finger drumming and MIDI triggers. The keyboards are Mac- and Windows-compatible, and come bundled with several pieces of software including Sonar 8.5 LE, Rapture LE, Sound Center and Studio Instruments Drums. Sonar 8.5 LE is Windows-only.

Also new is the FA-66, a FireWire 400/800 interface which supports six input/six output operation at 24-bit, 96kHz quality, or four input/four output use at 192kHz. The unit additionally has two XLR/TRS combo inputs with phantom-powered preamps, a Hi-Z input for recording electric guitar or bass, and two RCA inputs. Rapture LE, Sound Center and Studio Instruments Drums are included.

The Mobile Studio Canvas operates as both an audio/MIDI interface and a simple playback tool. For the latter users can load MP3, WAV, AIFF or MIDI files onto a USB drive, connect it to the Canvas and hit play; effects include looping, chorus and reverb, along with key and tempo changes and a karaoke mode. By default the Canvas includes 1,125 sounds, such as violins and shakuhachis.

Interface specs include two input/two output performance at 24-bit, 44.1kHz quality, with XLR inputs for phantom-powered mics, and a Hi-Z input for guitar or bass. V-Link support allows the use of some video hardware. The Studio Canvas, the FA-66 and the A-Pro keyboards should all be in stores in April. Prices are unmentioned.